D&D 5 Basic DM Guide Review

Author: Andrew /

So I absolutely understand that you're all chomping at the bit to see the D&D Player's Handbook review, but alas, 'tis a mighty tome and a beast of a read.  I've thoroughly skimmed it and read approximately the first third of the book in depth and, to quench your thirst for opinions, in lieu of a proper review for now I will say it's excellent.  It's simple, clear, and presents a large amount of variety and is absolutely worth getting.  I may even make it mandatory that each player in games I run have one.  That having been said, on to what this article is really about!

The D&D Basic Rules (which can be found here) were a major hit.  They present all the rules a player needs to create a simple character that's playable in a session of D&D and the good folks at WotC even made them absolutely FREE!  It's a brilliant idea and a wonderful way for prospective fans or those who're just curious about tabletop RPG's in general to poke their noses in, get their feet wet and see what all the hubbub is about without spending a cent.

Following the success of the Basic Rules PDF release (which, as of 8/12/2014, has been updated from it's 0.1 version) they have now released the Dungeon Master's Basic Rules v0.1 which  is essentially a 100% free mini Dungeon Master's Guide.  I just finished reading through it and it is coooool!  And with that, we're gonna break it down right now so you can get an idea of what's so cool about it.

Monsters

The monsters section is, I feel, one of the most looked-forward-to things they've released since the limited release of the Player's Handbook this past week.  Up until now, there has been very limited information on monsters that weren't part of the play test.  Now, quick disclaimer, it is noted that these rules are a work in progress, and as both the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master's Guide have not been released yet (expected releases are in October and November of 2014 respectively) changes can still be made.  That being said, these can be expected to be very close to the expected results, if not 100% the final product.

The beginning of this section opens with a rundown on monster-based terminology.  Some of these things are very simple, such as size categories spanning "Tiny" (which can occupy a space of 2.5" x 2.5") all the way up to the largest size "Gargantuan" (which occupies 20" x 20" or larger).

They then go into "Type" which covers what kind of creatures will exist in the world, hitting all the expected categories with verbal elaboration of a small paragraph apiece.  I learned a few new things, one of which was that Ogres and Trolls are also technically under the "Giants" category.

After hitting other small things such as movement types, how hit points are dealt with, special traits (Innate Spellcasting, Spellcasting), etc, they did talk about Challenge Rating (CR) and it helped me understand a deal about it. (Note: this does include some info that was included after the monsters were actually listed, but I wanted to put it all together)

Challenge Rating: "A monster's challenge rating tells you how great a threat a monster is.  An appropriately equipped and well-rested party of four adventurers should be able to defeat a monster that has a challenge rating equal to it's level without suffering any deaths."

So, monsters all have a CR number in their individual description.  This number goes from 0, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and then 1-30.  This means that, ideally, a party of four adventurers should be able to take on one monster of that CR.  An example is an Adult Red Dragon, which is a CR17.  This means that a normal sized party of 4 level 17 adventurers should be able to take one on and reasonably expect to tackle it without character deaths.

CR also factors into encounter building (this is the portion where they specifically make note of these rules being a work in progress).  They recommend building encounters in 4 steps:

1. Note Encounter Difficulty Thresholds - Using the Encounter Difficulty XP Per Character table.

The table has character levels (1-20) running down the left side, with 4 columns labeled with difficulties (easy, medium, hard and deadly).  Each column has a suggested XP amount which is equal to approximately how much "XP-worth" of monster will give a character of a given level an easy, medium, hard or deadly time.

An example is level 1.  Easy = 25 xp, Medium = 50 xp, Hard = 75 xp, Deadly = 100 xp.  So, a monster worth 25 or less xp should be easy for a single level 1 character to deal with.  In contrast, a monster worth 100 xp or more would almost definitely kill them.

2. Add Up Encounter XP - Total the XP values of each enemy in the encounter to get the encounter's XP value.

3. Adjust Encounter XP based on the Number of Monsters - (This is an interesting one) - Based on the number of monsters in the encounter, multiply the encounter's XP by the matching multiplier from the Encounter XP Multipliers table.  Note: This doesn't change the actual XP award for the encounter, it simply helps to show the real difficulty.

1 Monster - no multiplier, 2 = x1.5, 3-6 = x2, 7-10 = x2.5, 11-14 = x3, 15+ = x4

4. Compare the Encounter XP Value to Party Encounter Difficulties -  So, you get the levels for your party and find the recommended XP value for however difficult of an encounter you'd like to build.  (For example, if you want a medium encounter for 4 level 1 characters, your target is 200, because medium for one Level 1 character is 50).  You then add up the XP values of each monster you've selected for your encounter, multiply that by the appropriate multiplier, and see how they compare.  If it's too hard or too easy, adjust accordingly.

It's a relatively simple system when you see the charts and gives a good guideline for building meat-grinders to throw the adventurers into.  They do make a point of noting that these are merely guidelines.  When you play, you'll gauge how your players handle certain things and you'll get a feel for just how to challenge them appropriately.

The Monsters Themselves

The monsters themselves are well done and varied.  They look easy enough to run and many come replete with some cool features.  Each monster has it's AC (and in parenthesis what their AC is coming from), their HP and Speed.  This is followed by their 6 ability scores and modifiers, any skills / senses they have, languages, and their CR.  After that, it's just simple abilities (like the Goblin's nimble escape) and then their Actions, which are made up of their attacks, followed by a sentence or two of flavor.

In comparison to 4th ed, these are very tight, no more powers that won't get used!  The attacks are simply that, attacks.  The amount to hit, range, amount of targets and damage.  This makes monsters much easier to manage, as they're all organized the same way.

The monsters also run the gamut of levels (or CR's), from less than 1 - 17.  This makes me think the Monster Manual ought to be jam-packed with some big baddies!  Also included are stats for NPC's such as Commoners, Knights, Guards, Acolytes, etc.
Magic Items

The last portion covers Magic Items very briefly with a few examples.  We get a look at +1 Armor and Weapons, which very simply add +1 to your AC and +1 to attack and damage rolls respectively.  The other items, however, were a deal more interesting.

There are items now, such as the Amulet of Health.  This item, in past editions, has awarded additional HP or the ability to heal a small amount, etc.  Now, it very simply replaces your constitution score.  It states that when you're wearing the item, your Constitution score becomes 19, but if your Constitution is higher than that, it has no effect.

This, to me, is a very interesting way of dealing with items like this.  It stops a player from over-stacking items of a certain type to push beyond certain boundaries and helps maintain an even balance.  One issue with some past editions were numbers getting out of control.  This edition shows evidence of things being reigned in, for the better, in my opinion.

One aspect I noticed related to Magic Items, also, was the idea of attunement.  Certain items will state that they require attunement to use.  To do it, you take a short rest and concentrate on the item, and they make an explicit note that it cannot be the same rest it takes to identify the item and what it does.  The concentration period must be uninterrupted.  An item can only be attuned to one person at a time and you can only be attuned to up to 3 items at once.  Also you can only attune to one item per short rest.  Attunement ends if you've been more than 100 feet away from the item for 24 hours or if you die.

Conclusion (or TL:DR):

This is a great little document, coming in at 61 pages.  It's choc full of monsters, some solid rules for them, and good encounter guidelines, as well as a thorough explanation of challenge rating, which was confusing me up until this point.  On top of that, we get our first good peek at magic items which should allow the DM's out there to hand out just a bit more phat loot, and who doesn't like that?!

D&D 5e Spellcasting Clarification

Author: Andrew /

So recently myself and a few friends have been playing the D&D 5e Starter Set at our local game store, as well as just starting a private game which included our wives, which was a blast.  When getting them set up for the game, we ran into the issue of a brand spanking new player grabbing, of course, the Wizard.

As I looked it over, there were some simple things and some things that, at least to some extent, weren't as clear.  I wanted to take a moment to clear up how spell casting works to help those who may have questions.

1. Spell Levels - Spells have levels ranging from 0-9.  The higher the level, the higher the number.  Note that spell level does *not* correspond to character level.

2.  Spell Slots - This can be something that confuses players but I'll try to make it easy.  The basic idea is that spells take a physical toll on the caster.  The less experienced [read: lower level] the caster is, the weaker their casting ability is, allowing them to only cast a certain amount of spells per day.  The higher the spells level, the more taxing it is to cast.  Makes sense, right?

Referencing the D&D 5 Basic Rules (found here) we'll use the level 1 Wizard for ease.  The Wizard leveling chart shows that a level 1 Wizard has two Level-1 slots (Level-0 spells are considered easy enough to not be taxing and as such don't have slots).  This simply means that the Wizard is able to cast two spells at Level-1 power each day (the time period between 8-hour rests).  As the Wizard levels up, he gets more spell slots, for example:

Level 1: Two Level-1 slots
Level 2: Three Level-1 slots
Level 3: Four Level-1 slots, Two Level-2 slots
Etc.

This shows the caster's ability to control more strong magic as they grow in experience.

3.  Spell Preparation - This, I think, can also cause a bit of confusion, mainly because its execution is accomplished mainly through role-play.  Essentially the caster can prepare an amount of spells per day equal to the caster's key attribute modifier + the caster's caster class level (this is to say, if your character decides to level up in another class, like Fighter, the levels they have in Fighter don't count).  So, to show it simply:

Amount of spells able to be prepared each day for a Cleric = Wisdom Modifier + Cleric Level
Amount of spells able to be prepared each day for a Wizard = Intelligence Modifier + Wizard Level

Also, a note worth clarifying, when preparing spells, you're preparing spell *types* not specific spells to be expended.  This means your caster is essentially making mental notes on how to cast X, Y and Z spells.  The spells you have prepared are what you choose from when picking spells to cast that fill your slots.

4.  Spell Casting - Casting the spell itself is easy; you simply read the description of the spell in the rules.

So, to break it down, this is what spell-related actions could look like in a day:
-Your character wakes up
-Your character thinks of spells he likes
-Your character is a level 1 Wizard with 16 Intelligence (giving him a +3 modifier), allowing him to prepare 4 spells he can choose to cast from later.
-Your character can only cast level 1 spells right now so he decides to prepare (make mental note of): Magic Missle, Shield, Mage Armor and Sleep.
-Your character gets in a fight and doesn't want to get hurt too bad, so he casts Mage Armor, a Level-1 spell, using up one of his two available Level-1 spell slots for the day.
-Your character then wants to shoot the bad guy, so he casts Magic Missle, another Level-1 spell, using up his last Level-1 spell slot for the day.
-He now must resort to using the level-0 spells he knows (which he can do as much as he wants because level-0 spells are easy), or get a solid rest in to restore his spell slots.

Easy peasy. :D

Edit: Due to an obscene amount of spam comments, I've disabled comments for this post.

A bit of 5e news: Feats

Author: Andrew /

So the head of development on 5th Edition, Mike Mearls, has just released in his latest Legends and Lore article (found here) a bit about a topic near and dear to my heart: Feats.

In 3rd Edition they were at times very strong, but, as the article above mentions, you also needed to string them together, or there were some that were so specific or almost useless that they'd never see the table unless in very obscure circumstances.  In 4th I felt as if feats in general took a backseat, becoming minor advantages.

5th Edition's take on them is a bit along the lines of what I thought in terms of impact.  The only time you can take a feat is as a replacement for an ability score increase when leveling up.  As this is generally a very large power increase, that means that feats need to have a large impact as well, and it appears they do.

The view on them leans (as do other mechanics in the system) heavily towards the RP side of things, making feats things primarily designed for fleshing out a character concept better than the normal classes (or multi-classing) might allow.

In the article, Mike lists every single feat that will be in the Player's Handbook, which I thought was amazing.  Aside from the fact that we just get a clean sneak peak at the entire list, I think the thing I found most intriguing was that the list was small.  Counting the list, it comes in at a tight 42 feats.  To put this in perspective, the feat count in the 3rd edition Player's Handbook was a whopping 119!  4th ed's was also large with 81 feats, meaning that this edition is significantly smaller, but potentially much more impactful than previous editions.

You can see Mike's full list of feats in his post, but I'll list a few of my favorites (or ones that look like other's will really gravitate towards them):


  • Actor
  • Defensive Duelist
  • Dual Wielder
  • Dungeon Delver
  • Grappler
  • Healer
  • Inspiring Leader
  • Lucky
  • Mage Slayer
  • Mounted Combatant
  • Savage Attacker
  • Shield Master
  • Skilled
  • Spell Sniper
  • Tavern Brawler
  • War Caster


One of my personal faves in there was Grappler.  I always loved the idea of a fighter who's primary method was getting in there and fighting with a very tactile sensibility about him, perhaps even multi-classing into some kind of magic user class to cast touch-based spells; I think that would be amazing.  What it sounds like is the general way feats work now is that they are more a suite of abilities, or a kit in order to make sure your character can embody whatever the feat you choose represents.  So you want to be a Grappler?  Choose the Grappler feat, it'll have what you need to help your character do just that.

Now, granted, the article does not give what all the feats actually do (we actually have to wait for the darn books *kicks a rock*) but between this list and Mike's example of what the Lucky feat does (spoiler alert: it's awesome) we can get a pretty good idea of what they'll yield.  So far, I'm still pumped!

Stay tuned and be sure to post in the comments any thoughts or questions you might have!

D&D 5e Basic Rules Review

Author: Andrew /

Hey everyone!  I mentioned a little while ago that I would do a review of the Basic Rules released for D&D 5th Edition once I finished reading them, and I finally finished (what a hefty read!) so here we go!

First things first, if you would like to check out the basic rules for yourself (which you absolutely should), you can find them here.

Wizards of the Coast (the developers of D&D in general) had an interesting time with 4th edition, released back in 2008.  The issue was mainly due to the significant alterations made to what was the traditionally accepted way of doing things [Please note that the bulk of my experience started with 3rd edition].  To my knowledge, the mechanics of old revolved around a few things:

  • Leveling up based on a table unique to your class.
  • Having your attacks represented as simple, generic equations (like 1d20 + Strength Modifier + any additional special things you may have added, like a Feat bonus).
  • Feet-based movement.
  • Flavor heavy rules / book text.
4th edition made a departure from this in a number of ways that achieved some pretty cool (but divisive) things.
  • All classes leveled up based on the same table.
  • A simple attack statement was replaced by a huge number of different powers (things you could do in combat) that all did different things.  Each class had their own, making the class portion of the book rather large.
  • Square-based movement, meaning the game assumed that you were using a grid with figures on your tabletop (whether digital or actual).
  • Rules had much less flavor in favor of a robust combat system that allowed for heavy, semi-simulation level combat scenarios.
All that having been said, 4th edition did achieve some very notable things, including a much lower barrier to entry for players new to the hobby as well as an exquisite level of balance between the classes.  The balance ended up being a bit of a double-edged sword in that, while very evenly balanced, the classes could tend to feel overly similar in how they play, which, in turn, could make the classes feel as if they lost a sense of identity to some players.

Well, 5th Edition, you'll be happy to know, is a massive return to form, and shakes a lot of the issues that players did have with 4th.  When reading through the rules, the largest influence seemed to be 3rd Edition (and 3.5) as well as Paizo's Pathfinder system, which has been D&D's major competitor of late.

The PDF released (linked above) is 112 pages of awesome RPG awesomeness that is jam-packed with flavor and information in equal measure.  It also showed that WotC was very serious in their massive playtest efforts and their decision to include the community in the process of developing this latest iteration of the system.

I think the first thing most people notice is the new way difficulty is managed in D&D.  In the past, difficulty or ease in a given situation was accounted for by the DM giving you a bonus or a penalty number to whatever check you were aiming for.  5e brings in a new mechanic called Advantage / Disadvantage and it's beautifully simple.  Any time you would have advantage or disadvantage, you roll two d20's instead of just one.  If you have advantage, you take the higher result, if you have disadvantage, you take the lower.  This means more dice rolling (which is more fun) and less math (which is less fun).  I'm very excited about this one.

One of the other things I saw (as did many other reviewers, I found) is the wealth of flavor to be found in 5th Ed.  Everything you read is suffused with a sense of lore (if not displaying it outright) and it all has a place in the world.  Whether you're reading about character classes, magic, items, combat rules, or anything else, it all has a wonderful story to it.

It's plain to see that this system cares about Role Playing.  One of the best inclusions in the system that displays the importance placed upon RP is the aspect of character creation dealing with Traits, Ideals, Bonds and Flaws.  In 5e, when you create your character, choosing these things is a hard-and-fast part of character creation instead of something you did just if you felt like it in previous.  You choose two traits, one ideal, bond and flaw for your character background.  When you choose those things, they give you your characters feelings about certain things, things they care about, weaknesses that could be played against, etc.  This allows the DM to give rewards to players who role-play well according to these things.  Inspiration generally gives Advantage (which allows a player, when they need to make a check, to roll twice and take the better of the two results).

This brings us to Character Creation itself.  From looking through the PDF, though only 4 classes were featured in full class write-ups, I found mention of others leading me to believe there may be potentially over 10 classes!  I believe they are at least the following:

  • Fighter
  • Rogue
  • Cleric
  • Paladin
  • Druid
  • Wizard
  • Sorcerer
  • Warlock
  • Ranger
  • Bard
I may have missed a few but at this point, things are looking very robust.  In keeping with the similarities to 3rd Edition, each class has it's own leveling table that goes from level 1-20.  The level-up bonuses range from ability score increases to combat techniques to special abilities like the Rogue's famous (or infamous) Sneak Attack.  One interesting change I found was that Feats are no longer a mandatory aspect of character creation, which as far as I understand, is a large departure from tradition in general.  Now, at any point, when you level up and would receive an ability score increase, you can instead elect to choose a Feat instead.  This makes things interesting in that a Feat is now equated with an Ability Score point, which is generally a substantial power increase.  If this proves to hold accurate, Feats should be excellent additions to your character, should you choose to take them.

The second change I noticed was that in past editions of D&D, any given ability score's maximum at character creation was 18 (unless modified by a Race Bonus which could potentially add as much as 2, making 20 the absolute highest without house rules).  In 5e, the max ability score at character creation (before racial bonuses) is 15, which is substantially lower.  This, to me, is a sign of numbers getting reigned in, making small numbers in the early stages of the game more impactful.  If using the point-buy system alternative to rolling your stats, the maximum you could have is 15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8.

A third change is how robust the races are.  When you select a race, you get a bevy of different bonuses, some being RP related such as familiarity with certain legends and lore; others can be combat related, like things such as Darkvision, which lets a character see in low-light conditions, not discerning color, but instead seeing things in shades of grey.  Another thing I noticed were sub-races.  For instance, you may select Dwarf as your race, which comes with a +2 bonus to Constitution.  Once you select Dwarf, you also select a sub-race which in this case is either a Hill Dwarf or Mountain Dwarf, which receive an additional +1 to Wisdom or +2 to Strength respectively.  I found that the races have a huge amount of flavor and really give you some meaty stuff to make you feel like you're that race.

Combat seems to have been simplified a great deal in the removal of powers.  You have your normal attacks with specific features available that can alter those actions.  Also, with movement brought back to Feet instead of Squares, the game lends itself better to the Theater-Of-The-Mind play style much better than 4e, with its insistence on using a grid.

There are other smaller things too that are really looking cool including how armor now works, removal of Healing Surges in favor of Hit Dice, slight changes to how rests work, a return to 3e style spellcasting, etc.  The document is very much worth reading so definitely go check it out.

At this point, I'm very hopeful and optimistic for 5e and think it should be a brilliant return to form for the granddaddy of RPG's.  If you're really chomping at the bit, you can check out the 5th Edition Starter Set, it also is excellent and extremely well put together.  You also can't beat Amazon's price at the moment!

Roleplaying and Kids!

Author: Andrew /

So it's been a darn long while since I've posted but I've recently been really pushing myself to do some Dungeon Mastering and, in turn, it's got me thinking about these kinds of things again.  So with that, I'm back! :D

What I'd like to tackle in the article (I'll keep it brief, to the best of my ability) is RPG's and kids, and how darn awesome it can be!

First, for those who don't know, a Role Playing Game is a game where the players take on a specific role, usually of a character they create themselves, but sometimes games will use pre-made character for ease-of-play.  It's the same thing an actor does in a play!  Every person at the table is a player, and has a Player Character (referred to as a PC), all except for one person.  This person is referred to as the Game Master (GM) or, when playing Dungeons & Dragons, the "DM" (but they're the same thing).

The DM is what you would consider the narrator in the story.  They control the world and all the things the players interact with.  Any Non-Player Characters (NPC's), monsters, etc are all played by the DM.  This gives the DM tremendous creative power.  The DM is also the person who governs the rules of the game.  If they feel that a change to the rules would be more fun for all at the table, it's absolutely within their power to change it.  Their role is that of the Storyteller.

So, a Role Playing Game is, at its core, interactive storytelling.  This can be AMAZING for kids, as it allows their imaginations to run wild and it fosters a huge deal of creativity!  They get to imagine themselves as an awesome hero defeating a dragon or hunting for hidden treasure (or doing whatever other kind of story things the DM might come up with).  It's also very social.  It involves playing with your friends (and hopefully a parent or two!) around a table, having a great time (and generally sharing a bunch of awesome snacks lol).  One other thing it does is help with math skills, as the game involves simple addition of dice rolls (which are super fun).

Most RPG's have rule-books that can be quite large, with very detailed rules that the DM can choose whether or not to use (things like rules for if a character ducks behind cover in a fight, or rules about how far a character can go before eating or something like that).  Most of these rules are optional.  If the DM thinks they're too complicated or unnecessary, they can choose to just not use them.  One thing I found, that's great for kids, can be found here:

 https://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/MS_HeroesHesiod.pdf

That is a link to a specially made, self contained, RPG for kids based on Dungeons and Dragons called "The Heroes of Hesiod" and it's for kids 6+!

The rules in it are dead simple and very friendly.  It has fun character cards the players can cut out, and a few little monsters.  They get to go into Adventurer Training against some young monsters (like a little dragon).  They get to move their characters around the room and try to defeat the monsters, so they can be strong enough to defend the village when they grow up!

It's a well put together little game for kids and I highly encourage anyone interested who has kids to give this a shot.  There's a ton of fun to be had and there's no other game like it.  Happy adventuring!